Air pollution also contributes to 107,000 premature deaths per year in the United States, the report found.
Air pollution from fossil fuels costs each American an average of $2,500 a year in extra medical bills, researchers said on Thursday, as climate change hurts both health and finances.
The national price tag was put at more than $820 billion a year, with air pollution contributing to an estimated 107,000 premature deaths annually, said the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), an environmental advocacy group,
“The science is clear: the dangerous effects of climate change – and their profound costs to our health and our pocketbooks – will worsen each year we fail to curb the pollution,” said the NDRC’s Vijay Limaye.
The report used data from several dozen scientific papers to tally the overall cost of a changing climate on US health.
Heat waves, which can trigger strokes and exacerbate cardiovascular problems, cost the country $263 million a year, the report found, with wildfire smoke costing Americans $16 billion annually.
A wildfire in Los Angeles this week has fueled fears that California’s wildfire season is becoming longer. Five of the six largest wildfires in the state’s history occurred last year.
